Circuits, systems, and methods for reducing simultaneous switching output noise, power noise, or combinations thereof

ABSTRACT

Memory devices and methods are provided for reducing simultaneous switching output noise and power supply noise during burst data write and refresh operations. An embodiment of a memory device according to the present invention includes a first power domain coupled to some of the components of the memory device and a second power domain coupled to different components of the memory device. One or more distributed power domain coupling circuits may be coupled to the first and second power domains. The power domain coupling circuit includes a controller configured to generate an enable signal responsive to control signals, data signals, or any combination thereof. The power domain coupling circuit also includes coupling circuitry coupled to the first and second power domains and coupled to the controller. The coupling circuitry is configured to couple the first and second power domains together responsive to the enable signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/270,533, filed Nov. 13. 2008, which application isincorporated herein by reference, in its entirety, for any purpose.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to semiconductor memory,and in one or more embodiments, to methods and circuits for reducingsimultaneous switching output (SSO) noise and reducing power supplynoise during data (burst) write and refresh operations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Integrated circuit devices may rely on one or more power supplies toprovide operating power. Power supply voltages V_(CC) and ground may besupplied to multiple locations within an integrated circuit to providethe operating power. The connections to these power supply voltages, aswell as the circuitry used to produce the power supply voltages, mayprovide capacitance and resistance associated with the power supplyvoltages. Accordingly, the power supply voltages are not ideal. Whenmultiple circuits coupled to the power supply voltages switchsimultaneously, the load on the power supply voltage supply itself maycause the power supply voltage to shift, a phenomenon known assimultaneous switching output noise.

Prior systems address the problem of simultaneous switching output noisethrough data bus inversion, where the data is inverted at times in anattempt to balance the number of 1s and 0s communicated or throughminimizing the number of transitioning signals during the communication.However, data bus inversion requires an additional output to indicatewhen the data is inverted, and when it is not. Moreover, it may requireextra high speed data process logic with high power consumption; whichmay limit practical usage at high speed applications due to theshrinking timing budget for bus inversion processing data.

Still other prior systems address the problem of simultaneous switchingoutput noise by coupling a capacitor and resistor to an output node of acircuit. When the output voltage overshoots a target output voltage, thecapacitor stores the overshoot energy. When the output voltageundershoots the target output voltage, the capacitor may release energy.However, this approach is limited in that it addresses over- andunder-shoots in a circuit output voltage and requires that the outputnode be coupled to a capacitor and resistor. The approach does notaddress reducing noise in the power supply voltages themselves, only thedownstream effect at the circuit's output node. It may not be suitablefor wide spread data output distribution, where uniformity among all DQsare specified with phase noise is different at various locations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a portion of a memory device accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of coupling circuitry according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of coupling circuitry according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of coupling circuitry according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of coupling circuitry according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a timing diagram of signals used in embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of coupling circuitry according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a power domain coupling circuitaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain details are set forth below to provide a sufficientunderstanding of embodiments of the invention. However, it will be clearto one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention may bepracticed without various of these particular details. In someinstances, well-known circuits, components, control signals, timingprotocols, and software operations have not been shown in detail inorder to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the described embodiments of theinvention.

Integrated circuits may utilize several different power supply voltages.For example, a memory device may utilize one set of power supplyvoltages, V_(CC) and ground, for example, to perform write operations towrite data from memory cells in the device. When performing a readoperation, however, different power supply voltages, V_(DDQ) and V_(SSQ)may be used. V_(DDQ) and V_(SSQ) may provide a larger voltage differencethan V_(CC) and ground so that the data outputting operation may be morereliably performed to meet certain specifications. In this manner, twodifferent power domains are routed throughout portions of the integratedcircuit. In some embodiments, the two power domains represent twodifferent routing paths, and the voltages or voltage difference in thetwo power domains, or both, may be the same. A first power domain isV_(CC) and ground and some portions of the integrated circuit arecoupled to this first power domain all the time or at specified timesaccording to the requested operation. A second power domain is V_(DDQ)and V_(SSQ) and some portions of the integrated circuit are coupled tothis second power domain all the time or at specified times according tothe requested operation. Providing two power domains may result inexcess power supply capacity when one of the power domains is not beingused. That is, each power domain may be able to adequately handle acertain number of simultaneous switching outputs before noise becomes anissue on one or more power supplies. If another, relatively unused,power domain can be coupled to a power domain experiencing moreswitching, the combined power network may be able to support a greaternumber of switching outputs without as much noise on the power supplies.

Embodiments of the invention utilize this excess capacity by couplingthe two power domains together during all or a portion of the time thatone domain is inactive or less active. By coupling the power domainstogether, the capacity, stability, and capability of noise handling ofthe two coupled power domains may significantly boost overallperformance and improve operational margins. The effect of simultaneousswitching output noise may be reduced because the combined power domainis less effected by the switching demands of the integrated circuit.Further, if the power domains that are coupled together havecomplementary noise patterns, that is if the power domains experienceloading at different times, then one power domain can assist the otherduring a period of low demand, and vice versa.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a portion of a memory device 100implementing an embodiment of the present invention. Data signals arecoupled, as known in the art, through one or multiple stages ofpre-drivers 105 and an output buffer 110, and then to a data pad (DQ).Two power domains 120 and 122 are included on the memory device 100. Thepower domain 122 represents a power domain using voltages V_(CC) andground, in one embodiment, and may be referred to as the C-bus. Thepower domain 120 represents a power domain using voltages V_(DDQ) andV_(SSQ) in one embodiment, and may be referred to as the Q-bus. Thevoltage V_(SSQ) may be equal to ground in some embodiments, and thevoltage V_(DDQ) may be equal to the voltage V_(CC) in some embodiments.Generally, one or all stages of the pre-driver 105 may be powered by thepower domain 122, although some stages of the pre-driver 105 closer tothe output buffer 110 may be powered by the power domain 120 in someembodiments. The output buffer 110 may be powered by the power domain120 in some embodiments.

The memory device 100 includes power domain coupling circuitry 107. Thetwo power domains 120 and 122 may be coupled to one another through thepower domain coupling circuitry 107. The coupling circuitry 107 may beprovided along a length of the power domain busses, which may extendthroughout an integrated circuit. By providing multiple couplinglocations at various positions along the power domain busses, couplingbetween the busses may be more uniform. The power domain couplingcircuit 107 includes a controller 115. As will be described furtherbelow, the controller 115 provides data look ahead control logic with acontrol signal to coupling circuitry 117 to couple or decouple the powerdomains 120 and 122 based on the forthcoming output data patterns. Thecontroller 115 is generally powered by the power domain 122 in someembodiments. The power domain coupling circuit 107, when enabled, maystore excess energy generated during switching that would otherwisecause the power supply voltage to rise and supply stored energy duringswitching when the power supply voltage may otherwise fall. In thismanner, the coupling circuitry 117 may reduce the noise on the powersupplies to which they are coupled.

Energy storage and release by the coupling circuitry 117 may beimplemented in any manner known in the art, generally including acapacitor or other element having a capacitance. In some embodiments,however, no capacitance is provided and no additional energy storage isprovided. Even without additional energy storage, coupling the two powerdomains 120 and 122 together through the power domain coupling circuit107 may reduce noise on the power supplies. The coupling circuitry 117may also include a resistor which may damp swing noise generated duringswitching. Because the coupling circuitry 117 has a capacitance to storeenergy, they may adversely affect the performance of the power suppliesto which they are coupled by too much noise coupling depending on theactual implementations. Therefore, in some embodiments the power domainsmay be selectively coupled only during certain times. Accordingly, insome embodiments, the coupling circuitry 117 is not always coupled tothe power domains. Rather, power domain coupling can be selectivelyenabled responsive to command and data signals received by the memorydevice, as will be described further below.

FIGS. 2-5 depict different implementations of the coupling circuitry 117used to couple two power domains in FIG. 1. Other implementations of thecoupling circuitry 117 may also be used. FIGS. 2-5 depict the couplingof two power domains 120 and 122. The power domain 120 includes twopower supply voltages V_(DDQ) and V_(SSQ). This power domain 120 mayalso be referred to as the Q bus. The power domain 122 includes twopower supply voltages V_(CC) and Ground. The power domain 122 may alsobe referred to as the C bus. The voltage V_(DDQ) is generally equal toor higher than the V_(CC) voltage and the voltage V_(SSQ) equal to orlower than ground. In this manner, the power domain 120 represents agreater voltage difference than the power domain 122. The power domain120 may be used to perform read operations from a memory array where alarger voltage difference may be advantageous for high speed, fasterslew rate, or better signal-to-noise ratio. The power domain 122 may beused to perform write and refresh operations. The respective roles ofthe power domains 120 and 122 are indicated in FIGS. 2-5 by theircoupling to respective read data buffers 210 and write data buffers 220.Capacitors 212 and 214 are provided for each respective power domain fornoise coupling and to store and release energy between power supplies.

In FIG. 2, the power domains 120 and 122 are coupled together by twotransistors 222 and 224. When turned on, the transistor 222 couplesV_(DDQ) to V_(CC). When turned on, the transistor 224 couples V_(SSQ) toGround. The gate of the transistor 224 receives an enable signal, En,while the gate of the transistor 222 receives the complement of theenable signal, #En. The transistor 222 may be a PMOS transistor, whilethe transistor 224 is an NMOS transistor such that both transistors 222and 224 are turned on responsive to a high level enable signal. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 2, the transistors 222 and 224 provide directcoupling between the power domains, without additional energy storagecapability between the two domains. Accordingly, when turned on, thetransistors couple the power domains 120 and 122 such that simultaneousswitching output noise may be reduced by increasing the capacity of thepower domains by coupling the power domain capacitors and drivingcapability in parallel. The configuration shown in FIG. 2 may be usedwith power domains having the same voltages, where for example V_(DDQ)and V_(CC) are equal and V_(SSQ) is equal to ground. Of course, theconfiguration may be used with other voltage levels as well in someembodiments.

In FIG. 3, a capacitor 230 is coupled between the transistor 222 andV_(DDQ). The capacitor 230 may store excess energy, and supply storedenergy, during switching. The capacitor 230 may advantageously besmaller than the capacitors 212 and 214 to provide high-pass filteringfor dominating SSO noise during switching. In addition to the capacitor230, a resistor, although not shown, may also be provided between thetransistor 222 and V_(DDQ) to damp voltage swings associated with thepower supply voltage. The embodiments shown in FIG. 3 may be used whenV_(DDQ) is at different DC level than V_(CC). The capacitor 230 removesor reduces a DC path between the two levels.

FIG. 4 depicts coupling circuit including a transistor 240 that, whenturned on, couples V_(DDQ) to Ground, and a transistor 242 that, whenturned on, couples V_(SSQ) to V_(CC). Energy storage capacitors 244 and246, which can be large, are provided for storing excess energy andproviding stored energy during switching, as described above. Thisconfiguration provides a greater voltage difference across the energystorage capacitors 244 and 246. The larger voltage difference mayincrease the coupling achieved through the capacitor to achieve higherefficiency.

Another embodiment of coupling circuitry 117 is shown in FIG. 5. Atransistor 250 is provided that, when turned on, couples V_(SSQ) toground. This configuration may be used in situations where power domaincoupling is only desired on one power supply voltage, such as V_(SSQ) orground to have common ground and reduce ground bounce.

Yet another embodiment of coupling circuitry 117 is shown in FIG. 6. Theembodiment in FIG. 6 is similar to that shown in FIG. 4. An enablesignal is coupled to an inverter 510 which in turn is coupled to thegate of a transistor 515. When turned on, the transistor 515 couplesV_(CC) to V_(SSQ) through capacitor 521 and resistor 522. The output ofthe inverter 510 is further coupled to inverter 530, which is coupled tothe gate of a transistor 540. When turned on, the transistor 540 couplesV_(DDQ) to V_(SSQ) through capacitor 542 and resistor 543.

Embodiments of methods and circuits for coupling two power domainstogether, and storing excess energy and releasing stored energy duringswitching have been described above. However, as has been brieflydescribed, the coupling of the power domains may not be continuous.Rather, the coupling of the power supplies may be enabled and disabledresponsive to the load on the power supplies in embodiments of thepresent invention. Examples of methods and systems for enabling anddisabling the power domain coupling, and the storage and release ofswitching energy will now be described further below.

As described with reference to FIGS. 2-5, memory devices may utilize theV_(DDQ) and V_(SSQ) voltages during outputting data of read operationswhile using the V_(CC) and GND voltages during all the rest operationsexcept outputting data, including for example input buffering, commanddecoding, read logic, write logic and refresh operations. Accordingly,during memory reads, it may not be desirable to further load the V_(DDQ)and V_(SSQ) buses. However, when data outputs are not enabled, likeauto/self-refresh, burst write operations, the V_(DDQ) and V_(SSQ) busesare not being used. Accordingly, in some embodiments, referring back toFIG. 1, the controller 115 enables the power domain coupling duringperiods when a read is not being performed, such as during write andrefresh operations. Accordingly, a command decoder of the memory device(not shown in FIG. 1) may decode a read command. The read command, or anindication that a read command was received, may be coupled to thecontroller 115. The controller 115 may then disable the couplingcircuitry 117 responsive to the read command, and enable the couplingcircuitry 117 after the read command has been processed based on readlatency. A timing diagram illustrating this concept is shown in FIG. 7.A read signal 601 having a logic level indicative of a read command isprovided to the controller 115. The read signal 601 is high, indicatinga read operation, until a time 605. At time 605, the read signal 601transitions low, indicating the read operation is complete. At the timethe read signal transitions low, the controller 115 generates an enablesignal En 160 that transitions high and a complementary enable signal#En 615 that transitions low. The enable signal En 160 and thecomplementary enable signal #En remain high and low, respectively,during the time the read signal 601 is low, that is, during the time aread operation is not performed. The En and #En signals can be used withcoupling circuitry, such as the embodiments of coupling circuitry shownin FIGS. 2-5, to enable coupling circuitry during the time a readoperation is not being performed. When the read signal 601 transitionsfrom low to high at time 620, indicating another read operation, thecontroller 115 generates an enable signal 160 that transitions low andgenerates a complementary enable signal #En 615 that transitions high.The En and #En signals can be used to disable the coupling circuitry. Asa result, the En and #En signals may be applied to the couplingcircuitry to enable the coupling circuitry during periods of time when aread operation is not being performed.

In other embodiments, it may be desirable to utilize power domaincoupling during a read operation. However, due to capacitive loading andthe possibility of damaging one or more voltage supplies by overloadingthe supply, referring back to FIG. 1, the controller 115 may selectivelyenable the coupling circuitry 117 during periods of time when thecoupling may be beneficial. For example, in some embodiments, thecoupling circuitry 117 may be enabled when more data pins are switchingin one direction than another by a pre-defined threshold difference.When a more equal number of pins are switching in both directions, SSOnoise may be less of a problem. Accordingly, the controller 115 mayprovide an active enable signal when the number of DQs switching in onedirection is greater than a threshold number of DQs. For example, in oneembodiment an active enable signal is provided in a device having eightDQs when 6 or more DQs are switching in one direction (such as high tolow, or low to high). In an embodiment having sixteen DQs, an activeenable signal may be generated when 11 or more DQs are switching in onedirection. In an embodiment having thirty-two DQs, an active enablesignal may be provided when 22 or more DQs are switching in onedirection. Other thresholds and devices having different numbers of DQsare also possible. The enable signal generated by the controller 115 maybe provided to switching circuitry, such as the switching circuitry ofFIG. 6.

In another embodiment, referring back to FIG. 1, the controller 115 maybe configured to enable the coupling circuitry 117 during a readoperation to couple only a portion of the power domains 120 and 122together. For example, during a DQ transition from low to high, noise onthe higher power supply voltage of the power domain used for reading,the Q bus, may occur. Accordingly, the controller 115 may enable thecoupling circuitry 117 for coupling only V_(DDQ) to the second powerdomain (either to V_(CC) or to Ground). Similarly, if a DQ is switchingfrom high to low, ground bounce may occur, so the controller 115 mayenable the coupling circuitry 117 to couple V_(SSQ) only to ground orV_(CC) , while V_(DDQ) is not coupled to the other power domain. Oneembodiment for implementing a controller 115 in this manner is shown inFIG. 8. Data and command signals may be coupled to a NAND gate 810. Forexample, the controller 115 of FIG. 8 may be configured to enable thecoupling circuitry during reads, so a read signal may be coupled to theNAND gate 810. The NAND gate 810 is coupled to a delay element 815. Thedelay element 815 may be provided to match propagation of signals to thecoupling circuitry 117 (FIG. 1) to the propagation of signals throughthe pre-driver and output buffers.

The output of the delay element 815 is coupled to two edge detectors 820and 825. The edge detector 820 generates a high pulse signal responsiveto the receipt of a low to high data signal transition. The edgedetector 825 generates a low pulse signal responsive to the receipt of ahigh to low data signal transition. The pulse streams generated by theedge detectors 820 and 825 are coupled to respective inverters 830 and835 and delay elements 840 and 845. The output of the inverter 835 andthe delay element 840 are coupled to NOR gate 850. In this manner, theNAND gate turns on the transistor 855 to couple V_(CC) to V_(SSQ)through the capacitor 859, responsive to receipt of a pulse indicating ahigh→low transition from the edge detector 825. However, the transistor855 is not turned on if a low→high transition was detected soon beforethe high→low transition. That is, the inverters 830 and 835 and thedelay elements 840 and 845 coupled to the NOR gate 850 and the NAND gate860 serve as a glitch filter that may eliminate spurious transitionsthat are not representative of a true transition of the signal. Theoutput of the inverter 830 is coupled to the NAND gate 860, as is theoutput of the delay element 845. The NAND gate 860 turns on thetransistor 865 to couple V_(DDQ) to GND through the capacitor 869responsive to detection of a low→high transition by the edge detector820. However, the transistor 865 is not enabled if the transition isdetermined to be spurious by the glitch filter. The coupling circuitry117 in FIG. 8 includes the transistors 855, 865 and capacitors 869 and859. Any other coupling circuitry embodiments described above may alsobe used.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a processor-based system 1000 includingprocessor circuitry 1002, which includes the memory device 100, aportion of which is shown in FIG. 9. Typically, the processor circuitry1002 is coupled through address, data, and control buses to the memorydevice 100 to provide for writing data to and reading data from thememory device. The processor circuitry 1002 includes circuitry forperforming various processing functions, such as executing specificsoftware to perform specific calculations or tasks. In addition, theprocessor-based system 1000 includes one or more input devices 1004,such as a keyboard or a mouse, coupled to the processor circuitry 1002to allow an operator to interface with the processor-based system 1000.Typically, the processor-based system 1000 also includes one or moreoutput devices 1006 coupled to the processor circuitry 1002, such asoutput devices typically including a printer and a video terminal. Oneor more data storage devices 1008 are also typically coupled to theprocessor circuitry 1002 to store data or retrieve data from externalstorage media (not shown). Examples of typical storage devices 1008include hard and floppy disks, tape cassettes, compact disk read-only(“CD-ROMs”) and compact disk read-write (“CD-RW”) memories, and digitalvideo disks (“DVDs”).

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specificembodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes ofillustration, various modifications may be made without deviating fromthe spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A memory device comprising: a first power domain; a second powerdomain; and a coupling circuit coupled to the first and second powerdomains, the coupling circuit comprising: a controller configured toreceive control and data signals, the controller configured to generatean enable signal responsive to the control signals, data signals, or anycombination thereof; and coupling circuitry coupled to the first andsecond power domains and coupled to the controller, the couplingcircuitry configured to couple the first and second power domainstogether responsive to the enable signal.